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      Exploring concepts of home for returned long term travellers

      Pocock, Naomi Jane
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      thesis.pdf
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      F37 We spent lots and lots of happy times here.mpg
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      F36 I used to bring my children here now I am bringing my little grandson.mpg
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      F35 This is my favourite spot.mpg
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      F34 I am a home person.mpg
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      F33 Its just Linda really.mpg
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      F32 The goodbye girl.mpg
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      F31 An easy thing to cliche.mpg
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      F30 I was negotiating all this stuff.mpg
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      F28 What home means is having a cat.mpg
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      F27 The Rialto has always been a great place since I sneaked into R18 movies.mpg
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      F26 BFMs a large part of what I consider home.mpg
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      F25 Home is driving.mpg
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      F24 It is always nice to come home.mpg
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      F23 I cant really think of anything that would force me to leave.mpg
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      F22 Struggled with identity.mpg
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      F21 The sea provides a lot of balance for me.mpg
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      F20 The kitchen food indicates whats comfortable2.mpg
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      F19 The kitchen food indicates whats comfortable2.mpg
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      F19 The kitchen food indicates whats comfortable1.mpg
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      F18 The music makes me feel at home.mpg
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      F17 A big influence on my life.mpg
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      F16 Symbolism is very important.mpg
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      F15 Stand out from the crowd.mpg
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      F14 Its just a good lifestyle.mpg
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      F11 Transfer F12 Population F13 No comparison.mpg
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      F10 A happening place.mpg
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      F08 Desolate Wasteland.mpg
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      F07 Its not the home I left.mpg
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      F05 We have our little cat.mpg
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      F04 This space its all mine2.mpg
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      F04 This space its all mine1.mpg
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      F03 I really love baking.mpg
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      F02 A shadow of its former self.mpg
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      Citation
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      Pocock, N. J. (2011). Exploring concepts of home for returned long term travellers (Thesis, Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)). University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10289/5197
      Permanent Research Commons link: https://hdl.handle.net/10289/5197
      Abstract
      In this thesis, I take a reflexive approach in exploring concepts of ‘home’ for returned long term travellers, whereby ‘concepts’ represent ideas or constructs rather than definitive truths. ‘Home’, being ideologically constructed (Somerville, 1992; Gurney, 1997), has traditionally represented feelings of comfort, familiarity and belongingness. Yet, within the context of return from long term travel, concepts of home may become elusive and uncertain, as previously familiar environments may seem strange (Storti, 1997; Ahmed, 1999) and as the (physically) returned traveller may remain emotionally and socially ‘elsewhere’. Thus, I foreground the emotional and experiential dimensions of return from long term travel in this thesis, surpassing spatially limited notions of an ontological home, and engaging instead with the entangled complexity of social, interpersonal and personal concepts of (knowing) ‘home’.

      The context of the thesis is set within the first nine months of return to New Zealand from a long term travel experience, being the phase of travel when concepts of home are perhaps most questioned and arguably blurred. The methods I chose were underpinned by philosophical hermeneutics, and thus, I sought to privilege the participants’ own interpretation of their ‘home(s)’. Within this approach, I necessarily offered one reflexive interpretation of the returned travellers’ stories, while acknowledging that alternative interpretations may also be possible. In contrast to many theses within tourism studies that relegate reflexivity to the methodology chapter (Perriton, 2001; Feighery, 2006), I have attempted to incorporate my reflexivity throughout the thesis. For example, I commence this thesis by openly and honestly situating myself within the thesis, by examining my interest in the topic and my reasons for taking a reflexive approach.

      In terms of methods, I conducted open, conversational interviews with five long term travellers who had returned to New Zealand after living and working abroad, in a variety of countries, for between nine months and five years. In these initial interviews, I encouraged participants to reflect on their experiences of return and start conceptualising their ‘home(s)’. This interview was followed by a period of video diarising, whereby the returned traveller chose scenes of ‘home’ to film with little input from me. In addition, to broaden my understanding of the participants and their ‘home(s)’, I conducted independent interviews with up to five of each of the returned traveller’s ‘significant others’; namely, friends and family members selected by the travellers as being ‘significant’ to the returned travellers and/or their experience of return. Finally, I conducted a follow-up interview with each returned traveller, whereby we explored and discussed together his or her notions of home. Such innovative and iterative forms of data collection are rare within tourism studies, despite an emerging criticality evident within some areas of tourism scholarship (Ateljevic, Pritchard, & Morgan, 2007).

      Thematic analysis revealed a renegotiation with home that emerged through the participants’ dialogue with themselves, with others and with me. Concepts of ‘home’ reflected a “mixed bag of emotions”, and emerged through often passive resistance to perceived social norms, and within the context of the returned travellers’ personal historicity, that is, their worldviews, priorities and personal and social histories. ‘Home(s)’ for returned travellers were described as “dynamic”, “fluid” and “emotional”, subjectively constructed, and influenced by the returned travellers’ priorities at that stage in their wider life courses.

      This thesis contributes to philosophical ‘framings’ of tourism studies (Tribe, 2009) by moving beyond spatial assumptions of ‘home’ as a contrast to ‘away’ and engaging instead with subjectively constructed, pluralistic epistemologies of (knowing) home. Indeed, ‘home’ is an important experiential construct within tourism discourse, as tourism and recreation take their very meaning from “traditional anchors of identity, namely work and home” [italics in the original] (Williams & McIntyre, 2001, p. 392) and home and away (White & White, 2007). Yet, complex, subjective, situated, contextual and value-laden constructions of ‘home’ remain uncritically examined within mainstream tourism scholarship. This thesis attempts to address this gap.
      Date
      2011
      Type
      Thesis
      Degree Name
      Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
      Supervisors
      McIntosh, Alison J.
      Cockburn-Wootten, Cheryl
      Zahra, Anne Louise
      Publisher
      University of Waikato
      Rights
      All items in Research Commons are provided for private study and research purposes and are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated.
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